Tag: israel

Israel destroyed Gaza’s water plants. Now a deadly condition is spreading like wildfire

From the grey rubble of Gaza’s bombed water treatment plants, a rare and deadly paralytic disease has emerged that has brought a new crisis to a region already devastated by starvation and illness.

An unprecedented surge in acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) – a condition which causes a rapid onset of muscle weakness and paralysis – has seen 110 people diagnosed in the past three months. In previous years, Gaza saw just one or two cases of AFP per year.

The symptoms occur when the body’s immune system is triggered by certain viruses, in some cases causing it to attack its own nervous system. In Gaza, the rapid spread of water-borne infectious diseases has led to a striking rise in AFP cases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Dr Ahmed al-Farra, head of paediatrics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told The Independent thatIsrael’s destruction of Gaza’s vital water treatment plants is largely responsible for the spread of these diseases.

“To see 110 cases, this is incredible. This is an outbreak, it is alarming for us to see that number,” Dr Farra said, describing the situation as “one of the most challenging” medical incidents Gaza has seen since 2023.

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Israeli military uproots thousands of Palestinian olive trees in West Bank

The Israeli military has destroyed about 3,000 olive trees in a village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the head of the local council says, as Palestinians face a continued wave of violence across the territory in the shadow of Israel’s war on Gaza.

The Israeli military issued an order to uproot olive trees in a 0.27sq-km (0.1sq-mile) area in al-Mughayyir, a village of about 4,000 residents northeast of Ramallah.

The army justified the measure by saying the trees posed a “security threat” to a main Israeli settlement road that runs through the village’s lands.

The destruction was carried out as al-Mughayyir has been under lockdown since Thursday after an Israeli settler said he was shot at in the area.

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More than a dozen people killed in Israeli strikes on hospital in southern Gaza, including journalists, officials say

More than a dozen Palestinians were killed in a pair of Israeli strikes on a hospital in southern Gaza, according to the Nasser Medical Complex, including journalists from multiple outlets.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said at least 20 people were killed in the attack on Monday, with many more injured.

Israel carried out back-to-back strikes on the hospital in Khan Younis separated by only a matter of minutes, the ministry said. The “double-tap” hits killed journalists, health workers, and emergency response crews who had rushed to the scene after the initial attack, the Nasser Hospital said.

Dr. Mohammad Saqer, a Nasser Hospital spokesman and head of nursing, said that five journalists and four health workers had died.

The journalists killed include Mohammad Salama, a cameraman from Al Jazeera, Hussam Al-Masri who was a contractor for Reuters, and Mariam Abu Dagga, who has worked with the Associated Press (AP) and other outlets throughout the war. Moath Abu Taha, a freelance journalist, was also killed, the hospital added.

The Israeli attacks hit a balcony on the hospital used by reporters for an elevated view of Khan Younis.

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Why it took Palestinians starving for many to finally admit Israel is committing genocide in Gaza 

As anyone who studies the crime of crimes knows, genocide is a process not an event. For some NGOs, politicians, and other public figures, concluding that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians has also been a “process.” It has taken months, at times nearly two years, for some to admit that Israel has violated the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

One factor has been decisive in prompting these admissions. That factor is “starvation,” namely, Israel’s deliberate starvation of 2.1 million Palestinians who inhabit this tiny, densely packed strip of land.

Israel intensified its long-standing use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza immediately following October 7, 2023. Nearly twenty-three months later, Israel’s starvation project has brought widespread and sustained famine to the Strip, with over 200 people, including over 100 children, dying of starvation since October 7. 61% of those deaths have occurred since July 20, 2025. Deaths related to malnutrition and malnutrition-related disease are significantly higher.

But why has starvation been so pivotal as compared to Israel’s other horrors, which have brought even more death and destruction to Gaza? Ironically, it is the dehumanization of the Palestinian people, which continues to prevent some from acknowledging the genocide even until now, that explains why starvation has played such a decisive role in naming Israel’s actions.

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What Is JewBelong’s Deal?

I’m sure you’ve seen the hot-pink billboards. Failing that, you may have seen the hot-pink Instagram posts.

In case you haven’t: On top of a bright-pink background, white letters spell out phrases like, “This year, we didn’t need the Grinch to steal Christmas. The Hamas kids did that for him.” Or, “When your parents said ‘find yourself’ in college, they didn’t mean to find your inner terrorist.” They range from cliché but harmless—“Anyone who hates Jews clearly hasn’t tried my Bubby’s brisket”—to a bit menacing, with one since-deleted post reading, “Trust Me. If Israel Wanted to Commit Genocide in Gaza, It Could.” When I went to their website for this piece, I was greeted with a pink pop-up with white lettering that said, “We’re just 75 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out Jewish hate isn’t an overreaction.” OK!

The Instagram graphics, like their physical billboard counterparts, are the work of JewBelong. The nonprofit—founded by Archie Gottesman and Stacy Stuart, who worked together penning eye-catching ad campaigns for Manhattan Mini Storage—has existed for several years. As Fast Company reported in 2015, the organization hoped it would “take some of the stress and complexity out of Jewish life.” In the article, the two founders called their program Marketing Jewru, but by the next year, it was JewBelong.

“Let’s face it, Judaism can be a little/lot intimidating,” their website reads:

JewBelong is out to change that by helping you find the joy, meaning and relevance that Judaism has to offer. Our explanations and meaningful rituals are just the beginning. We exist for Jewish people, for people who aren’t Jewish but are part of a Jewish community, for anyone who has felt like a Jewish outsider, and especially for Disengaged Jews (DJs for short). That’s literally why our name/tagline is JewBelong: for when you feel you don’t! 

On its face, making Jewish life more accessible and welcoming is fairly unobjectionable (though there are certainly Jewish individuals who would object to the idea). And having a website that simply offers explanations of Jewish holidays isn’t harming anyone, and could even serve as a useful resource. (Other websites like My Jewish Learning do the same thing, albeit with less snark.)

From the start, though, two contradictions were baked into JewBelong’s mission.

The first is the question of why some Jews don’t feel they belong in a broader community of Jews, be it locally or globally. In 2015, Gottesman blamed Judaism’s marketing. Is that the issue? In 2016, writing in Haaretz, Rokhl Kafrissen suggested that the actual issues were the costs of raising children at all and in particular to having Jewish education and experiences (the ninth of JewBelong’s “New Ten Commandments” is to send children to Jewish summer camp and Hebrew school).

Kafrissen also points to Jewish philanthropists’ focus (and money spent) on fighting intermarriage and supporting Jewish continuity—traditionally understood as Jews marrying, giving birth to, and raising other Jews—instead of funding Jewish education. To that group, Kafrissen argues, ignorance about Judaism is all right so long as Jews marry and raise other Jews. (“Jewish grandchildren” is the second of JewBelong’s New Ten Commandments). To this, I would add that I have never interviewed a Jewish person who said they were checked out—excuse me, “disengaged”—because of marketing. But I have spoken to more than I can count who were treated as though they did not, in fact, belong because they were the product of intermarriage, or because they themselves were intermarried. And I doubt any of them would have felt like a bright billboard telling them they belong was an antidote to that.

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Columbus Jewish organization reports anti-war protests to police after rise in antisemitism

After the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, antisemitism spiked in central Ohio. Jewish Columbus reported threats and harassment against Jewish people to police, but WOSU found the organization also reported protest activity that was critical of Israel.

Some believe Jewish Columbus’ actions blurred the lines between hate speech and protected speech by reporting both to police. The group defended its actions to WOSU at first, saying it didn’t believe the protests as a whole were antisemitic. Now, Jewish Columbus says it is reporting both antisemitic attacks on Jewish people and events it believes are against Zionism.

Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis when it invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Israel retaliated, invading the Gaza Strip.  In the nearly two years since, it is estimated that more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed.

Here in Columbus and around the U.S., people took to the streets to protest after Israel’s counterattack began, alleging Israel was committing genocide.

At this time Jewish Columbus, a branch of the Jewish Federations of North America, started seeing a rise in antisemitism. The group and its umbrella organization have increased security and established an intelligence apparatus across more than 100 locations in U.S. cities, including Cincinnati and Cleveland.

Jewish Columbus reported these antisemitic acts to police, but went a step further. WOSU found through a records request to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office that Jewish Columbus was also reporting any protest activity it thought was critical of Israel’s actions.

Jewish Columbus told police about Students for Justice in Palestine events at Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan University.

It also reported a candlelight vigil at the Ohio Statehouse hosted by the Noor Muslim Student group.

This small group of mostly young women and girls stated on Instagram in Nov. 2023 they were gathering for a silent tribute to the victims in Gaza.

There were no protests or speeches.

But Jewish Columbus reported the vigil to police anyway.

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Millions of immigrants could now be scrutinized for ‘anti-Americanism’ and ‘antisemitism’

The Trump administration is making a drastic change to how it decides which immigrants can receive certain benefits.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security, is changing its policies so its employees are required to consider “circumstances where an alien has endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused the views of an anti-American or terrorist organization or group,” according to the document.

The document said those circumstances could include “antisemitic terrorism, antisemitic terrorist organizations, and antisemitic ideologies,” with no further specifics.

The change could impact millions of immigrants who are not citizens and deal with the agency, for issues including changing their immigration status or applying for a change of status. Consequences for expressing anti-Americanism or antisemitism could include a denial of whatever benefit the individual applied for, like a change of status, or a visa renewal.

“They’re saying that they can broadly use their discretion to deny people who have been involved in any kind of anti-American activity,” said Matt Cameron, a local immigration attorney.

“There’s no definition of antisemitism in the law,” he added. “We’ve seen with Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, that the definition of ‘antisemitic’ has been expanded to really anyone who opposes what Israel is doing in Gaza.”

Attorney Mahsa Khanbabai represents Rümeysa Öztürk, a Turkish Tufts doctoral student who was detained by ICE agents for co-authoring an op-ed urging her university to stop funding Israeli companies supporting the war in Gaza. She has since been released as she continues deportation proceedings.

“We’re waiting to see what further guidance the administration is going to be providing to its immigration officers as they try to decide what is anti-American or antisemitic in terms of adjudicating a person’s benefits application,” said Khanbabai, who is based in Massachusetts.

The limitations the Trump administration is imposing on immigrants’ First Amendment rights is playing out in court, but attorneys say this policy change is a new way to limit immigrants’ freedom of expression.

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Was the Oct 7 attack a pre-emptive strike?

In comments leaked by Israel’s Channel 12 this August 16, the Israeli army’s former head of military intelligence, Aharon Haliva, called for a “new Nakba” against the Palestinians and declared, “50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations.”

“For everything that happened on October 7, he proclaimed, “for every person on October 7, 50 Palestinians need to die. It does not matter now if they are children.”

Haliva’s remarks offer further proof of Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza, and provide fresh evidence in future prosecutions of the country’s military and political leadership for crimes against humanity.

While social media users reeled in horror at his fascistic rhetoric, few noticed a revelation by Haliva which should cast the Al Aqsa Flood operation on October 7 in an entirely new light.

According to Haliva, “After the holidays [in the Fall of 2022], we were opening a joint reorganization with [Israel’s General Security Services] Shin Bet to collect intelligence on [Al-Qassam Chief of Staff Mohammed] Deif and [Hamas Secretary Genera Yahya] Sinwar in order to kill them, because every time we prepared a plan, they moved, and you have to re-collect on them.”

In other words, Israel was planning to violate its ceasefire with Hamas and launch a major decapitation strike against its leading figures, much like the one it deployed against Iran’s military leadership this June 13, when it assassinated 8 major IRGC officials without provocation. The killings would have touched off a major war, but unlike after October 7, Hamas would have been left without any negotiating leverage, as it would have had no Israeli captives in its possession when hostilities began.

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Western Media Manufactured Consent for Israel’s Murder of Palestinian Journalists

Israel’s targeted assassination of six Palestinian media members in the Gaza Strip on August 10 sent shockwaves through the journalism community. Though the murder of journalists has been a common tool of the Israeli’s government’s suppression of information coming out of Gaza, the loss of Al Jazeera‘s Anas al-Sharif was particularly harrowing.

Many of us had been moved by al-Sharif’s heart-wrenching coverage, from watching him remove his press vest in relief when a ceasefire was announced (1/19/25), to seeing a languid al-Sharif reporting on the famine (7/21/25) as people fainted around him. “Keep going, Anas, don’t stop,” said a voice off-camera. “You are our voice.”

Three of the victims were al-Sharif’s colleagues at Al Jazeera, one of the few media outlets that was able to keep journalists reporting in Gaza despite Israel’s blockade. As millions around the world grieved not just for al-Sharif but for his colleagues Mohammed Qreiqeh, Mohammed Noufal and Ibrahim Zaher, and freelancers Moamen Aliwa and Mohammad al-Khaldi, we were also gravely concerned about the vacuum their murders created of on-the-ground coverage of the genocide.

Establishment media, however, used these courageous journalists’ murders as an opportunity to continue parroting the same Zionist talking points that contributed to manufacturing consent for their killings. FAIR looked at 15 different news outlets’ initial coverage of the murders: the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, BBC, Politico, Newsweek, Associated Press and Reuters.

We found that they overwhelmingly centered Israel’s narrative, attempted to delegitimize pro-Palestinian sources, and failed to contextualize the killings within the larger context of the genocide.

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Amidst Horrors in Gaza Some Prefer To Focus on Antisemitism

Canadian officials and commentators continue to justify the unspeakable horrors inflicted on people who have endured 22 months of a live-streamed holocaust in Gaza. After Israel assassinated six Palestinian journalists last week, CBC commentator and former Stephen Harper communications director Dimitri Soudas openly applauded the “elimination” of what he claimed was a “member of a terrorist organization.” There was no mention that 200 Palestinian journalists have been killed simply for practicing journalism in a place where Israel has banned outside reporters.

Alongside a political culture awash in genocidal statements, Canadian officials continue to provide unique, often illegal, support for Israel’s crimes. Canada arms Israel, charities raise up to a half a billion dollars a year on its behalf and groups induce Canadians to join the Israeli military in contravention of Canadian law. In addition, Canada effectively bans most Palestinian political parties and has helped build a Palestinian security force to oversee the occupation of the West Bank.

Canadian taxpayers also fund a special envoy who promotes Israel’s genocide. Deborah Lyons, who recently stepped down as Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, previously led Canadian diplomacy in Israel. During that time, she organized a pizza party for Canadians serving in Israel’s occupation forces. Lyons was echoing the stance of Canada’s foreign minister: when Chrystia Freeland visited Israel in November 2018, she declared that if Canada won a seat on the United Nations Security Council, it would serve as an “asset for Israel” on the council.

These are only two examples of Canada’s unique support for Israel. I can state this with confidence, having published 11 books on Canadian foreign policy – including Canada in Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation, Canada in Haiti: Waging War on the Poor Majority, and Canada’s Long Fight Against Democracy, among others.

In Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid and numerous articles, I have detailed the many forces driving support for Zionism. Over the past century, Canada’s ties to the US and British empires, its interest in geopolitical control of the region, Protestant Zionism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and settler-colonial solidarity have all shaped Canadian policy to varying degrees.

On top of this, there is a well-organized, wealthy and highly motivated Jewish Canadian Israel lobby, which has been increasingly powerful in recent decades. No other internationally focused Canadian ethnic/religious lobby is nearly as well-resourced or organized. And CIJA, B’nai Brith and Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre, etc. wield a uniquely powerful tool to silence critics: accusations of antisemitism.

I have likely written more about Canada’s assistance to Israel than any other Canadian over the past 15 years. Yet, as a sign of the lobby’s reach, even some leftists resort to vicious smears of antisemitism against me – rather than focusing on the suffering of Palestinians – even as the Jewish supremacist state commits the most horrendous crimes imaginable.

Recently, Ben Merenlensky, Sarah Buehler, Jordy Cummings, Judy Rebick, Cormac McCann and others have joined these efforts, labeling me – explicitly or implicitly – as an antisemite and suggesting I should be disqualified from participating in the NDP leadership race.

I stand firm in my belief that institutions financing, cheering on, or otherwise promoting a live-streamed genocide must be “weakened”. Ditto with my response to an absurd claim there’s no ethnic/religious contribution to anti-Palestinian media bias in Canada. These realities must be named. This is not about attacking any faith or ethnicity – it is about holding accountable the institutions and individuals, of any background, that promote apartheid and genocide. We must be able to identify and call out all forces that contribute to, or provide cover for, Canada’s support of genocide.

I reassert my belief that it is racist to invoke the word “antisemitism” more often than the phrase “Jewish supremacy” during a two year genocide – one carried out to advance apartheid and enforce the supremacy of Jewish people over non-Jews in Palestine.

Because of this, some self-described “supporters of Palestine” have labeled me an “antisemite.”

I reject the notion that such criticism is antisemitic.

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